This invention relates generally to docking devices for recreational water vehicles and more particularly concerns lifts for personal watercraft.
Devices for docking personal watercraft in marinas and at private docks are well known. They are typically modular in configuration to facilitate multiple lift installations. Typically, one or more modules is moored to a dock by use of sections of PVC pipe extending vertically through holes in the front of the module so that the module is free to ride on the pipe as water level changes occur. Additional modules are then connected in various ways in side-to-side relationship to the moored modules. Alternatively, modules can be side moored to the dock with additional modules connected in side-to-side relationship extending away from the dock.
The known personal watercraft docking devices described above suffer from a variety of shortcomings. First of all, their side-to-side connection devices are relatively complex. For example, some known modules employ vertical jigsaw type slots along their perimeter with interlocking jigsaw pieces being inserted into the spaces defined by side-by-side modules so as to connect the modules together. Other known devices use a tongue and groove or overlapping type of arrangement, the modules being held together by pins extending through the overlapping portions of the modules. These configurations are cumbersome and expensive. Moreover, in single unit applications or for end-of-row modules in multiple unit applications, the sculpted contour of the lift perimeter reduces the usable walking area on the lift and results in an irregularly shaped pathway. Another problem with these devices is that they use removable jigsaw pieces or pin assemblies which must be stored elsewhere when the module is not connected in a multiple arrangement. A further shortcoming is that known personal watercraft docking devices, all of which receive the watercraft by impact of the watercraft bow with the device as it is driven from the body of water onto the lift, experience significant wear and damage at the point of impact during normal use. Eventually, replacement of the lift is required. Some lifts reduce this damage by providing a roller to absorb the impact before the watercraft makes contact with the main body of the lift. However, the roller is itself subject to damage and is either so short that it is easily missed entirely as the watercraft is driven onto the lift or so long that it provides no guiding function in directing the watercraft onto its desired position on the lift.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a modular personal watercraft lift which can be quickly connected into a multiple lift configuration. Another object of this invention is to provide a modular personal watercraft lift having a connection component which can be left permanently connected to its module. A further object of this invention is to provide a modular personal watercraft lift which reduces damage incurred by the main body of the watercraft during docking impact. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a modular personal watercraft lift having an impact receiving plate which may be easily removed from the watercraft and replaced without removal of the watercraft from service.